Djokovic dominates marathon man Mannarino to reach Australian Open quarter-finals

Peter Staples/ATP Tour

Novak Djokovic dominated Adrian Mannarino 6-0, 6-0, 6-3 on Sunday to cruise into the Australian Open quarter-finals.

Mannarino is one of the trickiest players on the ATP Tour with his lefty, flat-hitting game. But with three consecutive five-setters in the Frenchman’s legs, World No. 1 Djokovic won the first 13 games of the match en route to his 32nd straight Australian Open victory.

“The first two sets [were some] of the best sets I've played in a while,” Djokovic said before cracking a joke. “I really wanted to lose that game in the third set, because the tension was building up so much in the stadium. I just needed to get that one out of the way so I can refocus on what I needed to do to close out the match.

“I played great, from the first to the last point.”

With the win, Djokovic is now tied with Roger Federer for the most Grand Slam quarter-finals with 58. He will next face seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas or 12th seed Taylor Fritz.

Make that 58 Grand Slam quarter-final appearances🤩

With the win, @DjokerNole equals @rogerfederer's all-time record for most appearances in the last 8 at the majors.@AustralianOpen | #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/phXz90nuWW

— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 21, 2024

Djokovic has admitted to battling what he called a “regular viral infection” throughout the tournament. Nevertheless, the Serbian is three wins from capturing his record-extending 25th major title.

The 36-year-old took a 5-0 lead over Mannarino in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series with a flawless performance across one hour and 44 minutes inside Rod Laver Arena. After the second set, even Mannarino was laughing at the lopsided scoreline.

The only person who did not seem entertained by the route was Djokovic, who maintained a noticeable intensity throughout. After needing four sets in his first two matches of the tournament, he has won eight consecutive sets.

”Obviously never easy to play Adrian, who is a very unorthodox player, uses the angles really well and has got one of the flattest and most consistent backhands in the game,” Djokovic said. “It's kind of a cat and mouse, really, tennis match against him. So I had to in a way physically endure the long rallies and try to run him around the court, which I did and I think I served very well. In the moments when I needed to come up with the first serve I did, so all in all a great performance.”

Mannarino, who is a career-high No. 19 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, was trying to reach his first major quarter-final. But the game with which he troubles many of the world’s best players did not bother Djokovic.

The 98-time tour-level titlist limited his unforced errors and mixed up the pace, forcing Mannarino to try to generate his own power, which led to a relatively sloppy match from the Frenchman.

Djokovic converted seven of his 11 break points and saved all three he faced.